Purple Reign: The Artist Formerly Known As Prince

by Liz Jones

Covers all aspects of the controversial pop icon's life, from his first record deal in 1977 to his new sound, and provides an inside glimpse of the record industry and the many new talents who are influenced by his work

Genres: Music

284 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Amy Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can’t decide if Liz Jones loves Prince or hates him. Similarly, I can decide if I like this book or dislike it. It gives some insider info, and she includes interviews with some of his close relations, but it relies heavily on collected research from other books and articles. That’s one of the funny things about books about Prince, though. It seems that so many of them are mostly speculative and based on outsider opinions. He was a reclusive guy for good reasons.

The book starts and ends with Emancipation. In the prologue, the author has been invited to hear the new album (at the time), and she expresses seemingly mixed feelings. I suppose, as a journalist, she felt the need to cover all bases, but I think it leaves the reader feeling confused. She tries to go chronologically throughout the book, but her tangents are confusing, and she makes it difficult to decipher to whom the direct quotations are attributed. I also found it off-putting that she refused to refer to him as “the artist” or to use his symbol because, at the time this book was released, that is how he requested to be referred to. Maybe it was a good book when it came out, but I think it doesn’t hold up over time, and it pales in comparison to other Prince books.

Overall, this might be an ok book to pick up for a die-hard fan who wants every single detail of which person was in Prince’s band at any given moment and if you’re really really into his feud with Warner. Otherwise, just read his Wikipedia page and find a book with more pictures.

[Christina Sizemore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and sad, but fueled mostly by speculation and third hand information. Not dependable as a reliable information source.

[Todd C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice biography about the greatest modern musician.

[Stephen Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

In memory of Prince Nelson Rodgers!!!!!!! Funny & original. (1958-2016)

[Liam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly shallow & very, very boring. I have read magazine articles about Prince that had more depth- and were much more interesting, too. Part of the problem was the absolutely execrable editing, but even a competent editor could not have helped this book. If the subject of this work was not Prince, whose music has been an extremely important influence not only on myself and my own circle of musical collaborators & colleagues but on many others as well during the past three decades, I would have given it only one star. I am actually quite pissed off that I paid $5.99 + tax for this book, never mind the time that I wasted reading it. Even the included discography is half-assed and useless...

[suzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it of course, I'm a lifelong Prince fan.

[Clif · Rating 1 out of 5]

No insight into how awesome Prince is, except for one story about Kim Basinger, a mixing board, and some honey.

[Bert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically a scrapbook of articles about Prince.

[Chambers Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of this book.

[Madeleine Herkes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting subject, but the book was poorly written and edited!

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

How do you make a Prince bio this dry? Kinda reads like a Wikipedia page.